By Insights
Excellent communication skills are an essential part of any rewarding technology career. Strong verbal abilities – including public speaking acumen, help when leading meetings, or interacting with clients. Skill with the written word helps technology professionals craft specifications and other important documentation.
If you aren’t a natural communicator, don’t fret, as it’s easy to hone your skills in this area. It just takes a persistent effort as well as getting over any fear of speaking in front of a crowd. Here are a few insights and ideas to help you improve your ability to communicate.
Follow the Golden Rule to Improve Your Interpersonal Communication Skills
One basic rule: treat others as you expect them to treat you – is one key piece of advice for improving your communication skills. This approach also involves being a good listener. After all, how can you expect your verbal communication or even emails and text messages to have any impact if you don’t listen attentively to others?
Show more empathy and less self-consciousness around the office to provide yourself with a good baseline for becoming a more impactful communicator. Even if your grammar isn’t pristine, expect your managers and coworkers to take what you say seriously.
Communicate in a Clear and Concise Fashion
Both your written and verbal communication needs to be concise and focused on being the most effective. When speaking at meetings or sending emails clearly state the objective of your communication at the beginning. If you fail to do this, your listeners (and readers) might lose interest and stop paying close attention to you.
Remember, it’s easier to be too verbose when speaking, so try to temper this tendency by using shorter sentences. Join a local Toastmasters chapter in your area to hone your speaking skills in this fashion. Also, apply the same concept to any written documentation you produce.
Improving Your Emotional Intelligence Makes You a Better Communicator
Strong emotional intelligence makes it easier to show empathy and genuinely understand other points of view. Use your empathic nature to become a stronger communicator, especially when speaking and interacting with coworkers or clients. Boosting your EQ also helps you control your emotions in the office, which is a critical part of advancing in your tech career, including a potential move into management.
If you need advice on building a great IT career, speak with the expert team at Technology Partners. As one of the top technical staffing agencies in the Midwest, we also know the companies looking for great candidates. Connect with us soon
